The script uses uppercase letters from the Latin script (except for the letter Q) and rotated versions thereof (except for the letters M, Q and W) to write consonants and vowels. Tones and nasalization are written with Roman punctuation marks, identical to those found on a typewriter. Like the Indic abugidas, the vowel [a] is not written. However, unlike those scripts, the other vowels are written with full letters.
The local Chinese government in Nujiangde facto recognized the script in 1992 as the official script for writing in Lisu, although other Lisu autonomous territories continue to use the New Lisu.[citation needed]
Consonants
Note: You may need to download a Lisu capable Unicode font if not all characters display.
Initial glottal stop is only written when the inherent vowel [ɑ] follows, and just like all consonants, the inherent vowel suffix ˍ must not be written as that would indicate another [ɑ] follows (ʔɑɑ instead of ʔɑ). It is automatic before all initial vowels but [ɯ] and [ə].
ꓭ represents a "vowel" in the Naxi language, presumably a medial[ɯ], and a consonant in the Lisu language[ɣ]. ꓪ, ꓬ and 𑾰 are likewise ambiguous.
**Only written after a syllable (consonant letter) to indicate a second vowel. Other vowels do not have special letters to emphasize a secondary vowel without glottal stop initial, such as ꓡꓷꓰꓹ ([ləe]) is not written as ꓡꓷˍꓰꓹ and can only be distinguished from ꓡꓷ ꓰꓹ ([ləʔe]) by a space.
For example, ⟨ꓝ⟩ is [tsɑ̄], while ⟨ꓝꓰ⟩ is [tsē].
When consonant ꓠꓬ, ꓬ is used with vowel ꓬꓱ, ꓬ, without being ambiguous only one ꓬ is written.
When transcribing exotic rimes (diphthongs or nasal endings), letters ꓮ and ꓬ can work like vowels just like English letter Y, making Fraser script behave like an abjadic alphabet like the Roman instead of an abugida like Tibetan; meanwhile space works like a delimiter like a Tibetan tseg, making a final consonant (such as ꓠ) possible without necessity of a halanta sign: 凉粉 ꓡꓬꓮꓳ ꓩꓷꓠ reads as /li̯ɛwfən/ rather than as ꓡꓬ ꓮ ꓳ ꓩꓷ ꓠ/li̯ɑʔɑʔʊfənɑ/.[2]
Tones
Tones are written with standard punctuation. Lisu punctuation therefore differs from international norms: the comma is ⟨꓾⟩ (hyphen period) and the full stop is ⟨꓿⟩ (equal sign).
Diacritics on the syllable ꓝ[tsɑ]
ꓝ[tsɑ̄]
ꓝꓸ[tsɑ́]
ꓝꓹ[tsɑ̌]
ꓝꓻ[tsɑ̄ˀ]*
ꓝꓺ[tsɑ̄ˀ]
ꓝʼ[tsɑ̄̃]
ꓝꓼ[tsɑ̂ˀ]
ꓝꓽ[tsɑ̂]
ꓝˍ[tsɑ̄ɑ̂]
*It is not clear how the ⟨ꓻ⟩ mid tone differs from the unmarked mid tone.
The tones ⟨ꓸ⟩, ⟨ꓹ⟩, ⟨ꓺ⟩, ⟨ꓻ⟩ may be combined with ⟨ꓼ⟩ and ⟨ꓽ⟩ as compound tones. However, the only one still in common use is ⟨ꓹꓼ⟩.
The apostrophe indicates nasalization. It is combined with tone marks.
The understrike (optionally a low macron) indicates the Lisu "A glide", a contraction of [ɑ̂] without an intervening glottal stop. The tone is not always falling, depending on the environment, but is written ⟨ˍ⟩ regardless.
An additional character, the inverted Y used in the Naxi language, was added to the Unicode Standard in March, 2020 with the release of version 13.0. It is in the Lisu Supplement block (U+11FB0–U+11FBF):
